“Reindustrialization is a real thing, and no one would argue that’s not a good thing for our countries,” said Glenn Stevens, the chief automotive and innovation officer at the Detroit Regional Chamber. “The issue really for us has been here in Michigan is we want that, and we’ve seen some of that, but we really don’t want that at the expense of a trading partner that we’ve been with for, in the auto industry, almost 125 years together.”
The name change was the talk of the docks on both shores of Lake Ontario this week. But neither American nor Canadian sailors seemed to be taking it all that seriously.
“It’s a nonissue for us, other than watching the memes and enjoying the humor,” said Howie Colt, captain and founder of Gone Sailing Adventures, a charter sailing company in Toronto.
It’s a rowdy U.S.-Canada border war—in bass fishing.
(Yup, bass fishing.)
The “Angler of the Year” competition for the 2026 Bassmaster Elite Series is down to a weekend battle between a 41-year-old Canadian pro and a 21-year-old hotshot from Southern Illinois, playing out in the smallmouth bass paradise of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario.
When Tom Holder watched Donald Trump become U.S. president for the second time, it was the last straw.
For years, he and his wife would winter in South Carolina, in a villa they rented months in advance. By the time Trump won the U.S. election in 2024, they had already put down deposits for their stays in 2025 and 2026.
“We were besides ourselves,” the Ontario resident described in an interview with CTVNews.ca.
“We could see the way things were going.”
What the Canadians don't seem to realize is that as they point and yell at US, Lutnick, Bessent and others are quietly shifting purchasing patterns, investment opportunities, and distribution channels to counter an impending decrease in trade with Canada. The US has been focused… pic.twitter.com/inLRVFLiVe
— Metal Nana (@Inadvertantview) August 29, 2026
Last year, I sat down for a cup of coffee at the Tim Hortons in Caribou, Maine, with Ron Turcotte, the legendary Canadian jockey who rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973.
Ron lived across the border in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, but he picked up his mail almost every day at the U.S. Post Office in Van Buren, Maine. His life, like so many people who call our border communities home, didn’t fit neatly on one side of an international boundary.
Hours after Trump’s latest tariffs on Canadian wine, dairy, and autos took effect, California’s Democratic Governor and likely presidential contender Gavin Newsom posted on X calling Canada America’s “closest ally.” Then a few days after his initial tweet, Newsom did interviews with CBC and CTV, and on CTV he said something very important for Canadians to take note of. When asked if he would remove all of the tariffs Trump has put in place, he waffled for about a minute before eventually coming to say “I can’t guarantee that, but I can guarantee you nothing like this — the level of disrespect, talking about the 51st state.” In the CTV interview, Newsom even explicitly brings up some of the tariffs from Trump’s first term that Biden then kept in place.
The flareup in the Canada-U.S. tariff war has not only strengthened Ottawa’s resolve to boost military co-operation with Europe and Asia — it’s also hurting prospects of major military purchases from the United States.
In an interview, the head of the Defence Investment Agency says the Canadian public would have no appetite for sole-source military contracts to American firms.
Business owners on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border are tired.
For those whose goods have been affected by the tariffs fired back and forth between the two countries over roughly the last year and a half, this latest and possibly most punitive round of levies announced by U.S. President Donald Trump only adds to the uncertainty – and fatigue.
It’s a long list and a steep number. Cosmetics, toiletries, packaging, electrical components, chemicals, clothing and flowers are among the bevy of Canadian products now subject to a 50-per-cent U.S. tariff as of Aug. 22.
Emotions are running high.
As the name-calling and mudslinging between Canada and the U.S. ramps up, so too are calls to reach for the biggest weapon in our economic arsenal: energy.
The argument has an undeniable appeal.
The Americans want to hit Canadian steel, aluminum, autos, and billions more in exports? Fine. Canada has something they need too.
Donald Trump sat in the Oval Office at the White House on Thursday and used his signature Sharpie to sign an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”
I expect there’ll be a flood of commentary mocking this as absurd, ridiculous, laughable. Why not “Lake Melania” or “Lake Natalie,” if you want to get into the latest rumours about Trump’s female companionship.
Or comments to the effect that this proves Trump has gone completely off the rails, that he’s a wingnut, an insane person.
So close, and yet so far. Only last week, Canada and the US were finally on the cusp of reaching a long awaited trade deal. Already Trump had announced the joyous news on Truth Social, already Canadian prime minister Mark Carney had celebrated securing the “best terms” for Canada and called for provinces to lift the ban on US alcohol.
Then, somehow, defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory. Late last Friday, Carney told Canadian negotiators to walk away, saying Washington was offering “a bad deal.” Trump promptly reimposed the 50 percent tariffs on goods imported from Canada that had been put on hold pending the signing of the deal. On Tuesday, August 25, Carney announced dollar-for-dollar retaliation, in what some are calling “the dumbest trade war in history.”
Carney has cynically stoked fear of America
Late Wednesday the federal government announced that it was removing seafood from Canada’s list of retaliatory tariffs. The finance ministry justified the move stating, “Based on feedback, we have made select adjustments to protect against broader economic harms, including removing seafood and fish products from our list of counter tariffs.”
The invocation of economic harm here is a tell, because it should be obvious to everyone, our politicians included, that tariffs on foreign products are a tax paid for by domestic consumers.
A humble plea: Can we not lose our minds?
As in, might we try to resist the urge to turn our collective animus toward the Donald Trump administration into something weird and McCarthyist at home? It’s easy to get swept up in the insanity of a dispute that is, at its core, entirely nonsensical. But there is virtue in not letting ourselves go mad, too.
I'll believe this crap when I see a single Costco store close down. Exactly. It's total BS. pic.twitter.com/zmyQvsxKdn
— Determined Canuck (@frenchlefty26) August 27, 2026
MapQuest has made it clear the website will not budge when it comes to changing the name of Lake Ontario, which President Donald Trump renamed Lake America on Thursday.
On Thursday, the White House put out an image of a bald eagle pinning a Canada goose under its talons and added a statement that managed at once to be obsequious, vulgar, and untrue.
“President Trump said it best: ‘Canada is easily the most difficult and unreasonable. They feel entitled, but they are not a State, and will be entitled no longer!” Canadian leadership chose retaliation over partnership — and America is no longer willing to carry them.”
Optimistic for a US publication.
